Providing Postnatal Breastfeeding Support Through the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program

Summary

The Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program (CPNP) aims to improve birth outcomes among Canadian women in challenging life circumstances, including those who are adolescents, newcomers, low-income or single mothers. The CPNP strongly promotes breastfeeding prenatally, resulting in high initiation rates, but continued postnatal support is needed to optimize breastfeeding duration and exclusivity.

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of adding postnatal lactation support as an extension to the CPNP on breastfeeding duration and exclusivity in the first six months postpartum. The research will be conducted at two CPNP sites in Toronto, Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre and The Stop Community Food Centre. A quasi-experimental design will be used to compare the infant feeding practices of CPNP clients before and after introduction of a postnatal lactation support intervention which will include in-home professional lactation support and provision of high-quality breast pumps. These services will be delivered as CPNP program components and will be accessible to all clients at the two participating sites during the post-intervention period. Infant feeding practices will be assessed by a questionnaire administered at 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 months postpartum. The hypothesis is that significantly more mothers in the post-intervention group will be exclusively breastfeeding at four months postpartum. The effect is expected to be mediated through increased breastfeeding self-efficacy, which will be assessed using validated scales prenatally and at 2 weeks and 2 months postpartum.

Conditions

• Breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding, Exclusive
• Infant Nutrition
• Complementary Feeding

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Postnatal Lactation Support

In-home breastfeeding support delivered by professional lactation consultants and provision of a high-quality breast pump

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Sprott Foundation

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Toronto

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Daniel Sellen, PhD · University of Toronto

• Deborah O'Connor, PhD · University of Toronto

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

SEQUENTIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Max Age

49 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-11-01

Primary Completion

2021-07-13

Completion

2021-07-13

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations